SWINDON St George let a 16-point lead slip as they were pegged back by West of England League Pool Two leaders Cheltenham Phoenix in a 30-30 thriller.

The South Marston side, who sit third in the table, were trailing in the opening five minutes as Cheltenham capitalised on an error to score an unconverted try.

St George got their noses in front in the 14th minute when Sam Williams finished off a fine move, with Connor Tomley adding the extras.

Cheltenham regained the lead with their second unconverted try, but a crafty kick ahead allowed Jamie Deal score and Tomley again added the extras for a 12-8 half-time lead.

Jack Daynes increased St George's lead after the interval before making a jinking run to bag his second try of match. Tomley converted both to send the hosts 24-8 up.

Cheltenham then piled on the pressure and scored two converted tries to reduce the arrears to four points.

However, Tomley crossed for Swindon’s fifth score of the day after finding a gap in the Cheltenham defence. Williams kicked the conversion to make it 30-20.

But Cheltenham responded with another unconverted try before some loose marking allowed the visitors to run in under the posts for a six-pointer and snatch the draw.